[5] Brothers Charles and Ernest Tiedtke, who grew up farming in what is today Toledo's east side, opened a grocery store at Summit and Monroe downtown (near present-day Fifth Third Field).

With their core business food, they leased the upper floors of the building to firms selling furniture, housewares, clothing and shoes.

Occasionally, an employee who was ill or experiencing financial difficulties would have his medical bills or mortgage paid off by the brothers, no questions asked.

[1] In 1925, the brothers sold the business to the Kobacker family, which owned the Boston Stores chain in Columbus, Ohio and Buffalo, New York.

[6] Jerome Kobacker and his son Marvin strove to preserve the Tiedtke's brand by continuing the brothers' policies, retaining their marketing philosophy and keeping the name.

"[5] Like most large American cities at the time, the center of Toledo's commerce was its downtown core, and thanks to public transportation and its strategic location on a main artery, Tiedtke's saw a lot of foot traffic from the 1930s through the 1950s.

They, too, retained the Tiedtke's nameplate, but made a lot of other changes, such as altering the layout of the sales floors and deemphasizing the store's core grocery business.

For example, it had a grand unveiling of a 1,000 pounds (450 kg) Wisconsin Cheddar; and in 1961 it brought in a real giant, 7 feet 4 inches (2.24 m) Jakob Nacken to celebrate its "big event.

A huge crowd gathered in the former Water Street parking lot to watch the blaze, and several times they tried to break through the cordon of police and firemen.

Today, the site is occupied by the Imagination Station science museum, a hotel and Promenade Park, a huge riverfront space.